Kitty Foyle (Ginger Rogers), a saleswoman in a New York City boutique owned by Delphine Detaille (Odette Myrtil), faces a life-changing decision: marry her fiancé, a poor doctor named Mark Eisen (James Craig), or run away to South America with a rich man she has loved for many years, the married Wyn Strafford (Dennis Morgan), who is about to leave his wife and young son.

As a teenager, Kitty gawks at the city's elite Main Liners in a parade that precedes their annual Assembly Ball.

Ironically, Kitty meets the embodiment of her dreams in an acquaintance of his: Wynnewood Strafford VI, the scion of a wealthy Main Line family.

Kitty takes the opportunity to entrust the secret return of the family heirloom ring to the boy, prompting Wyn to visit and woo her one final time.

Katharine Hepburn, who starred opposite Rogers (but was frequently at odds with her) in Stage Door, was offered the title role but turned it down.

Bosley Crowther of The New York Times expressed disappointment that the story had been softened from the novel due to Production Code restrictions, but wrote of the protagonist that "Ginger Rogers plays her with as much forthright and appealing integrity as one can possibly expect.

"[3] Variety wrote "Despite its episodic, and at times, vaguely defined motivation, picture on whole is a poignant and dramatic portraiture of a typical Cinderella girl's love story.

"[5] Harrison's Reports wrote "Very good!...The story is simple but realistic; it has deep human appeal, a stirring romance, and delightful comedy bits; moreover, the performances are excellent."

[6] "I am inclined to think that it's Miss Ginger alone who makes 'Kitty Foyle' a better-than-average film and Kitty herself a proper model for those hundreds of thousands of young things who will now be adding a touch of white to their neckline," John Mosher wrote in The New Yorker.

The glamorizing process carries through from the casting of Ginger Rogers and the Hollywood wardrobe provided her, to such added incidents as Wyn renting an entire nightclub for a night...While the film retains a scene or two of Kitty's crowded apartment shared with two other girls, such scenes are played for comedy and no attempt is made to convey the day-to-day monotony and routine of the working girl.